Concert Recap: InnerPartySystem’s Last Show Ever?

Die Tonight, Live Forever? 1,800 miles away in the early morning hours of August 28th, Hurricane Irene was doing Denver a favor. Following an announcement that InnerPartySystem would go on indefinite hiatus, the band announced two final shows: at Denver’s Bluebird Theater on August 28th and “the last show” in New York on August 31st. But the weather prevented them from travelling to Denver on the 28th and the show had to be rescheduled for September 5th – making the Denver appearance the last ever scheduled performance by the band

Several of Denver’s music elite showed up to say goodbye to a band that enjoyed a large following here. Among the crowd were members of The Epilogues, The Photo Atlas/Serious Moonlight, 3OH!3, and Take to the Oars. Also on hand were KTCL DJ’s Nic Cage and Nerf. Before launching into “American Trash”, singer Patrick Nissley made a point to thank KTCL for being such a strong supporter of the band.  During that same song, it appeared for a moment that Cobraconda’s Spencer Foreman was planning to dump a trash can full of ice over Nissley’s head from behind, but Foreman thought better of it. IPS’s biggest hit “Don’t Stop” was saved for last, during which the band was joined on stage by several of their fans and friends. As the song ended and the stage cleared, I saw drummer Jared Piccone unplug one of Nissley’s synthesizers and hand it to a fan in the pit – perhaps a sign of acrimony between band members?

Denver’s bad boys of rap Cobraconda opened the show. Prior to hitting the stage, they debuted their video for “BBHM$” (Bitch Better Have My Money). As the group promised on their Facebook page, the video was an R-Rated revelry of cocaine, alcohol, and oral sex (which may or may not have been simulated). Most of the crowd stood with their mouths agape unsure of how to react (particularly those who were on a date). Others gasped and whooped it up. The duo then hit the stage and pounded through a tight set that was punctuated by back-to-back tracks designed to get the hometown crowd going: “Never Going Back to Cali” (sampling 2Pac’s “California Love”) and “Everyday (In The Mile High)” (sampling Rusko’s “Everyday”). They closed out their set with fan favorites “K.I.S.S.I.N.G.” and “El Camino”. Judging from the amount of band merchandise I saw in the crowd, they picked up several new fans as a result of this coveted opening slot.

Why Doesn’t KTCL Play Local Music?

Denver has one of the most vibrant local music scenes in the country right now.  Over 13,000 people showed up to the Westword Music Showcase in June, and another 11,000 tickets were sold for July’s Underground Music Showcase which featured 350 local bands over four days.  You’d think that Denver’s Alternative Rock radio station, KTCL 93.3 FM, would want to take advantage of this demand for local music and play more of it.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Using statistics from http://www.yes.com/#KTCL and a mid-week sample date of Wednesday, August 31st, I discovered that KTCL had a total of 220 “plays”.  Of those plays, only 14 were from bands that are (or were) based in the Denver/Greeley/Fort Collins area.  That’s just barely over 6%.   It’s even more pitiful when you consider that these 14 plays only represented 7 unique songs.  One local musician said to me recently “People don’t need to hear [the Flobot’s hit] ‘Handlebars’ every fucking day”.  It may sound like he was exaggerating – only he wasn’t.  “Handlebars”, a song that is now 4 years old, was played twice on Wednesday.  “Girlfriends” by Single File was played three times.  As far as I can tell, these guys broke up almost two years ago!  Tickle Me Pink’s “Carolina” was played – they, too, are no longer together.  Breathe Carolina and The Northern Way (formerly known as Set Forth) also got two plays each.  Then there’s the biggest slap in the face: The Fray was played four times!  Why is this the biggest slap in the face?  Because, KTCL’s Alf was pretty much single-handedly responsible for breaking The Fray through his “Locals Only” show on Sunday nights.  Proof positive that radio airplay (along with listener demand) can turn a local act into a national act.  In fact, I’m not even sure it’s fair to count their four plays against the 14, because they are probably just part of Clear Channel’s “Premium Choice” program anyway.

Premium Choice is an initiative to “identify Clear Channel’s most effective content across music genres”, in other words: an approved playlist.  Clear Channel claims to give the local Program Director “total choice and flexibility in choosing the Premium Choice programming elements, and can use large portions, single elements, or none of the programming if they choose”.  But, there is no way that can be true.  According to his LinkedIn page, Nerf is not only KTCL’s afternoon drive DJ, but the station’s Program Director as well.  Nerf works very hard to get local bands onto larger stages, such as KTCL’s Big Gig, Hometown for the Holidays, and this year’s Denver County Fair (where he got  Take to The Oars, My Body Sings Electric, and others into the Stadium Arena at the National Western complex), but he can’t be bothered to play their songs on the radio?  It just doesn’t add up.  His hands must be tied.

So, what are we as concerned citizens and lovers of local music to do?  Stop listening to KTCL?  Do you think Clear Channel has any problem shutting down one radio station?  No way, and KTCL does too much good for the local music community to risk that.  My suggestion is to make “Locals Only” the most popular show on the channel by listening every Sunday night, and to call the request lines every other hour of the week to request local bands.  The fact is, I probably wouldn’t even be writing this blog right now if it wasn’t for KTCL spending 4 minutes out of a 1,440 minute broadcast day to play “Hunting Season” by The Epilogues.  Never in my 18 years of living in Colorado had I gone out to see a local band headline a show.  But that single play led me to the Bluebird Theater just days later where I saw Monroe Monroe, My Body Sings Electric, and The Epilogues.  Since then, I’ve been addicted to the scene and have shoveled money into the pockets of musicians.  One play.  That’s all it took.  Judging from my research, I got lucky.